GOSHEN, Ind. — Freshman Donnae Lipinski of the Goshen College women's track and field team has been named Springer Design Maple Leaf Athlete of the Week for the week ending May 7, the GC athletic department announced Monday.

Seeded 11th in the shot put, Lipinski finished fourth with a toss of 38 feet, 6 3/4 inches, missing all-conference status by three centimeters (1 1/4 inches). Her first attempt came within a centimeter of breaking her personal-record throw; the second cleared it by more than a foot and the third extended that by 10 more inches. She entered finals as the fifth seed, improving her seed by six spots.

With the eight finalists each receiving three more attempts, Lipinski again uncorked a second put that was longer than the first and a final try that was her best of the day. All told, her 11.75-meter mark was 77 centimeters (more than two and a half feet) past her previous best.

Among the eight finalists, three successfully completed all six attempts between preliminaries and finals without a foul. Lipinski was the best finisher of those three. In addition to narrowly missing all-conference status, that three-centimeter margin was also the only thing separating her from being the highest-finishing freshman in the event.

Lipinski also ran on Goshen's 400-meter relay team for the first time this season; that outfit finished seventh in 53.46 seconds, meaning Lipinski had a hand in seven of Goshen's 15 team points.

The CL meet marked the conclusion of Goshen's full-squad season: four members of the team have qualified in a total of five events for the NAIA outdoor national meet, which is set for May 25-27 in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

The Maple Leaf Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Springer Design, Inc., and is chosen each Monday by a panel of Goshen College athletic personnel.